NO NONSENSE #21
Hey dolls,
As summer draws to a close (sob), we’re shoving our suitcases back under the bed and getting ready to hibernate. Here are our big TV, film, and other miscellaneous recs as cosy season starts to roll back around:
Ione Gamble, Founding Editor-in-Chief
TV - City On Fire
FFO: Gossip Girl and Indie Sleaze which of course I am of both. Little trashy teen drama from the creators of Gossip Girl based on mid 00's era New York starring Jemima Kirke and Chase Sui Wonders. If you loved Nick & Norahs Infinite Playlist as a teen you will j'adore this.
Podcast - The Missing Madonna
Our own podcast editor extraordinaire Olivia has presented her own series (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for BBC!! Following a stolen Da Vinci painting and her dad’s quest to get it back.
Music Vid - “I'm Just Ken”
Featuring BTS clips of Greta Gerwig and Ryan Gosling having a gorgeous time on the Barbie set, I cannot stop watching this lmao ❤️
Gina Tonic - Deputy Editor
Book - Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
It's been a while since I've read any kind of dystopian fiction so I was a bit iffy going into this, and there are a few times where the social commentary is a bit blatant, but that hasn't detracted me from liking it at all! It's funny as well as dark and depressing and just a nice departure from just reading stories about how women my own age date crap men haha
Film - Blue Jean
Been wanting to watch this for ages and so glad I got round to it! The north east setting in thatcher days at a SCHOOL could so easily go down a Billy Elliot route but this film artfully avoids that. It's really moving and important to recognise how shit life was for queer people, and lesbians in particular, not even that long ago. There's a lot of moral questions thrown about in this too and it was great to watch a film that’s able to do that in under 100 minutes!
Charlotte Landrum - Platform Editor
Film - Little Women
I rewatched this on Sunday whilst hungover eating macaroni cheese and had a big cry - it’s such a cozy, lovely movie with a stacked cast, once again thank you Greta Gerwig! Maybe I will read the book one day!
Book - Blue Nights by Joan Didion
My first time reading Didion and it’s of course incredibly written, a raw exploration of loss and memories.
Food - Pie
I always forget pies exist but then I have one and it’s incred. I went to Pieminister (love a chain restaurant) and it just ticked all the boxes. I had it with peas and mash and it was lovely.
Grace Maria Ellington - Beauty Editor
TV - Rewatching Mad Men
I actually never watched it in the first place and now I’m almost finished and it’s so good for lots of reasons, but also wow the hair makeup and costumes are impeccable and I say that never about even prestige TV!
Product - SAIE Beauty sun melt bronzer
My face is always three-ish shades lighter than my body because I do factor 50 every day, lol but this is the only bronzer I’ve tried that I genuinely think looks totally natural. It’s a gel cream texture without any glitter or shimmer and it’s got a really nice transparent quality so hard to mess up.
Film - The Wicker Man (1973)
This has been rereleased and restored and it’s on BFI Player and yeah it holds up so well. It’s so good and a key original piece of folk horror.
Lauren O’Neill - Copy Editor
TV - Celebrity Masterchef
Hardly a niche recommendation but Masterchef is my favourite TV show because when you need to put your brain on ice a bit it’s perfect for that, especially because it’s on about three times a week. The celebrity ones are lowkey the best because a) everyone they choose is already good at being on TV and b) they’re usually way shitter at cooking than on the regular seasons (someone cooked a burger where the buns were made from rice x), so it’s funnier. My winner so far is Mica from Gogglebox because she is a ledge.
Beauty product - Everyday Humans Resting Beach Face SPF30
My absolute ride or die desert island would perish without it beauty product. I’ve been focussing loads recently on trying to get my skin in shape so I can wear a bit less makeup and this has been so helpful (along with a tailored Dermatica retinol treatment which I also can’t rec enough). It’s a really reliable SPF which I use and reapply daily, but it also gives your skin an absolutely gorgeous glow, it’s so hydrating, and it makes you feel and look so slay and healthy. Love her so much.
Food - M&S Belgian curls
World’s most stunning biscuit 10/10 absolutely unbeaten honestly just try them you will not regret.
Misha MN - Culture Editor
TV - American Horror Story: NYC
Very late to this party but absolutely loved it. Set in New York in the 80s amongst the gay underworld of Manhattan, a serial killer prowls and a deadly virus brews. It’s got all the Ryan Murphy tropes of hot guys, pithy put downs and too many plots, but also has lots of characters based on real downtown legends. We have tributes to Klaus Nomi, David Wojnarovicz and Robert Mapplethorpe. We even get the fabulous Patti LuPone as a lounge singer performing at the bathhouse, a recreation of Bette Midler and her famous concerts at the Continental Baths. Incidentally, there is a recording of the Divine Miss M doing one of these shows on YouTube and I highly recommend it.
Book - Sluts by Dennis Cooper
I read this a few years ago and was really moved by its visceral portrayal of sex work in the early age of the internet. Rediscovered my copy and dipped back in and it still packs the punch. Written as an old fashioned message board where johns review male escorts, the story of one hustler being pushed to extremes haunts the site, but is it real? Are people lying for attention, just to fuel the fire? Or are the freaks finally coming to confession? It really captures the lawlessness of the early gay online sex world and the way that nothing you read can ever be trusted.
Music - Matt Maltese – “Hello Black Dog”
For some reason I’m embarrassed that I love Matt Maltese. Maybe it’s because he’s straight, maybe because he’s actually current, or maybe it’s that in 2020 four of my top five most played songs on Spotify Wrapped were by him and I was in the top 0.005% of listeners. A bit excessive on my part. He’s very good at tragic romance lyrics – things like “you make me want to curl up and die,” “I’d kill all my friends for you” and “it’s you that I welcome death with as the world caves in.” “Hello Black Dog” is his new single and seemed to be about recurring periods of depression, at first in a sad way but then after learning how to deal with it, welcoming it back like an old friend: “Hello Black Dog, I’ve been expecting your kind, go check the fridge for something you’d like and stay for the night, you can sleep by my side, then it’s goodbye Black Dog, til next time.” Self care always wins.
See you next time dolls,
xoxo
The Polyester Team <3
